Certain types of articles, such as food or beverage containers, are commonly sold either as individual units or in a multi-container carton. Each article is normally marked with a pricing code to enable it to be scanned and automatically totaled at a retail outlet when sold as an individual item. When packaged in conventional open-ended wrap-around carriers, pricing errors can occur if the scanner sees the pricing code on one of the articles instead of the code on the package itself. One way to prevent this from happening is to package the articles in a completely enclosed carton or carrier. An enclosed carrier is quite expensive, however, compared to a wrap-around carrier due to the greater amount of stock required.
It is preferred instead to provide wrap-around carriers with partial end panels of a size sufficient to cover the pricing code on the end articles in the package. Such a design would require less stock than a fully enclosed carrier and be correspondingly more economical to produce. Partial end panels designed to cover pricing codes located near the bottom of the article require only a short panel extending up from the bottom panel. To cover pricing codes located more centrally or even higher on the articles a different approach is necessary. It would be preferable in those cases to provide a partial end panel extending down from the top panel. The requirements of such a design is that the partial end panels be minimal in size, not interfere with the normal fabrication and packaging methods of wrap-around carriers, and be locked in place after being formed.
Wrap-around carriers have in the past been formed with partial end panels for purposes other than to cover the pricing code on individual end articles in the package, such as providing a more finished appearance to the package, providing more surface for printing and protecting the labels on bottles or other articles against damage. The partial end panel designs of such carriers have not been found to be suitable for the shape of current bottle designs and so improved designs have been sought. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved partial end panel design having all the desirable features mentioned above.